Phoenix Fire
by Saien
Summary: //Everything revised, and notes from author// What exactly happened to Zechs and Epyon at the end of the series? Is it possible to infuse the ZERO System directly into a person's brain? And why is Midii Une Trowa's superior officer? (mainly 1xR and 2xH)
1. Prologue --- Ode to a Corpse

**Phoenix Fire**

**Prologue -- Ode to a Corpse**  
  
  


**Author's notes:** This takes place around AC 200, and uses all material mentioned in the anime series, Endless Waltz, Episode Zero (NOT including Preventer 5), and Blind Target.   
Story ties in with F.C. Noventa's "Hawks of Peace" and uses her character, Frank, though he showed up as a nameless White Fang member in the series and EW. However, Zeero---devoted member of Heero's fanclub---is © completely to F.C. Noventa. Yes, I did receive permission to use her ideas---she is my mother. This story should still work as a stand-alone, though, especially considering that "Hawks of Peace" is not yet finished.  
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THIS PROLOGUE! The prologue introduces my main "villain" and original character, codename Phoenix. It explains a lot about him. So if you want to find out about him and look into his psychotic brain a bit, read on! If you want to be surprised during the story, DON'T read this and just proceed directly onto Chapter 1. You can always come back and read this at any time. -_-  


Blood dripped and chemicals burned.

But he didn't care.

Electrical wires crackled and lifeless computers sparked.

But he paid them no heed.

The one corpse in the room stared lifelessly at him, shock and accusation still apparent in its eyes.

But he did not deign to even acknowledge this corpse that was--used to be--his creator.  
  
He was a great, fiery wrath: a fury come from the ashes. He had no need to trifle with the destruction he was leaving behind. Still, the insane, human part of his brain needed to think and say some things before he could move on.

"Forget the pain you inflict. Proceed with the Mission." That's what he would say. The youth turned and did deign to look at the corpse. "That's what you would have said. You made me to be a perfect assassin, a killer. Just what you wanted. A ruthless machine you could program into doing whatever you wished. Killing whoever you wished. Well now, you made that machine, didn't you? But you couldn't control it." A humorless, ironic smirk touched his lips. "Pathetic fool. You tried to play god, and look where it got you. Look where it got me." He glared down at himself, then raised his hand to eye level, carefully inspecting it. His gaze turned dispassionate, like that of an automaton. "You made me into this. I suppose I should be both grateful to and hate you for that. However, you never allowed me to bring out my true potential. How blind of you. You always sent me to do the trivial matters. You always said that they were necessary for the Mission. Greedy old fool, you really thought you could use me to solve your own personal problems?" He laughed humorlessly. "Stupidity! Well now," the young man crouched down and grinned ferally at his dead audience, "Let's start reviewing this stupidity at the beginning, shall we?

"You lost your family in the destruction of some space vessel. Very sad. Interesting that you happened to be safe somewhere else at the time though, hmm? Now, this fellow that caused it--I think you called him Zechs Merquise. Or was is Milliardo Peacecraft? Ah well, one in the same. He was the main cause of the death of your family, according to what you preach. One might question exactly how you knew this if you were hiding away in a hospital at the time..." The man clucked disapprovingly, then smiled insincerely at the dead scientist. "But no matter, you thought you could use me to destroy him and those around him. But you didn't do that right away! You sent me after some poor, meaningless little rodents of scientists that had helped to build your enemy's suit." He rolled his eyes. "Like it was their fault. Stupid, revenge-twisted little man. If you had really wanted to get even with those who built that suit that destroyed your family's vessel, you should have gone after Treize--but, alas, he is dead." An almost sympathetic smile stretched across his face. "Well now, you certainly couldn't extract any revenge on him. But why bother destroying the ones who made the suit that destroyed your family? No, your plan to slowly destroy Zechs Merquise, the suit's pilot, was better. But no," he spat the words out bitterly, "you had to make me go up against scientists who, at the time, had no idea what they were doing. Pitiful and wasteful of you. Although I can't say I didn't enjoy killing them, somewhat." His intense pink eyes flashed brightly for a moment and he grinned dangerously again. "Then again, I didn't mind killing you that much, either."

_Humans must die. Humanity is a scourge._

He closed his eyes. "I know." The eyes opened again, pupiless now, and he turned them on the corpse once again. "You made one fatal mistake." His voice seemed more monotone now, deeper. "Out of your ashes of defeat and devastation--which is where my name came from, I figure--you made me to fulfil the revenge you were too weak and spineless to do yourself. You genetically altered me to be perfect for destruction, and gave me cybernetic functions so that I could perform better than any human. You made me too perfect in that way, it seems, and made me human enough to know I was being used; human enough to hate being used. It was a foolish, fatal error on your part. Playing with things you shouldn't have. Well now, that's all over and done with. I have my own ideals to pursue now." Standing up, he turned with a flick of his head--swirling his cascading white ponytail back-- and began to walk toward a control panel beside a metal-covered window. The single thing in the whole laboratory he hadn't destroyed. Without hesitating he hit a pattern of keys, then looked up expectantly as the metal plating rose and he could see in through the glass. Slowly, various wrecked and battle-worn pieces of a mobile suit could be seen in the protected room. He spoke to them, specifically the suit's head--or, rather, to something that was fused into his brain.

"You who I call my only true mentor..." He lowered his head for a moment, and when he looked up again his eyes were no longer a pink--they were a vengefully dark shade of red. "I will accomplish what you have asked me to."  
  


_Humanity must die. Humanity is a scourge._  
  


"Yes..." With that last hiss, he hit a button to close the window again, then turned and left the laboratory for the last time.

The metal paneling slowly slid shut on the mobile suit parts, only the head of which was still intact.

The head of Epyon.

_Humanity must die. Humanity is a scourge._

Its eyes flashed.


	2. Chapter 1

**Phoenix Fire**

**Chapter 1**  
  
  


Around September 18th. The prologue took place mid-August.

  
  


"Hilde! Have you seen my clipboard?!" Duo's voice sounded muffled, since he was frantically rooting through a desk full of paperwork. He held up a meaningless paper in each hand, surveying them with a frenzied look in his eyes. He threw his hands up in exasperation, letting the papers fly free. "_Hilde!_ There's a customer waiting!" He attacked another stack of paperwork

Hilde blinked the sleep from her eyes and peered over at where her husband was tearing through her carefully organized paperwork. She glared in his direction, intent on giving him a piece of her mind. "Duo! My paperwork! Stop that!" He didn't notice, and she began to toy with the idea of grabbing that overly long braid of his and pulling it back rather hard. . . then she slowly started to grin as a more subtle way of revenge came to mind. "Clipboard, Duo?"

A head of frazzled brown hair popped up over the top of a mountain of scattered papers, the cobalt blue eyes nearly bugging out. "Yeah. That. Where?!" Intelligent articulation was apparently out of his grasp at the current time. Hilde grinned like the Cheshire Cat, mentally.

"Where you put it last!" 

Sometimes she could aggravate him no end with her untimely cheerful attitude--which was much like his own. But hey! He was the great Shinigami; who couldn't love and adore his witty sense of humor? Or so Duo liked to think. "Hilde..." He moaned slightly as he surveyed the mess surrounding him. "Come on! Can't ya help me a bit here? There's a customer waiting!" He turned and frantically attacked another pile of papers.

Hilde's grin and plan slipped a bit, and she tilted her head, pitying his plight. "Did you try looking on the nail it's usually hung on?" She asked, pointing.

"Yaaahhh!" With that yelled, he pounced on the newfound treasure and ran for the door with his clipboard under one arm, pausing only long enough to sweep his wife up in a brief, tight hug of appreciation

Hilde blinked, then grinned as she observed, through the window, Duo nearly run into the aforementioned, not to mention impatient, customer. After Duo ushered the customer back to the front of the store, the serious side of her started to kick in when Hilde noted the horrible disarray Duo had left of her nicely organized paperwork. Well, it looked like her morning and afternoon work schedule had already been decided for her. _First thing's first_, she reminded herself,_ finish getting ready and start Duo's breakfast._ She peered out the curtain towards the little store next door to their house, where Duo had taken the customer. Goodness knows that he'd want a big breakfast, claiming that all the stress of the morning had drained all his strength away, and that only "Hilde's Famous/Notorious Cure-all Soup" would cure him. Along with some pancakes, eggs, full pot of black coffee, and just a bit of toast... "with blackberry jam! Death needs nourishment so he can keep swingin' his scythe at the paper-pushers!" reminded the little Duo-voice in her head. Grinning, Hilde turned around and went back upstairs to get ready for the day.

  


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  


"Minister Darlian! How did your meeting with the delegates here on J18315 progress? Is it true that you are really trying to help the White Fang residents here get well-to-do lifestyles, like the ones in L2 colony cluster?"

Another reporter tried to push her way to the front of the throng. "Is it also true that you are working with the Winner Foundation on these matters, and that Quatre R. Winner himself is spearheading the movement?"

  
  


Relena Darlian, Vice Foreign Minister and ex-princess, tried to find a way down from the top of the steps to her limo, and found it impossible with all the reporters blocking the way. She sighed mentally, but outwardly kept a mask of calm professionalism on. "Please excuse me, but I must be on my way to prepare for the next series of these meetings on L1-A04782. You all will hear about the entire matter, once it has been settled, at the scheduled news conference. Now please," she bowed her head, "if you'll kindly excuse me." The dour reporters still clustered in the area and begged for more information, although they grudgingly allowed Minister Darlian to be escorted by some ESUN guards to her limo. With a weary sigh, Relena sunk into the comfort of her portable sanctuary.

"Back to the hotel, Miss Relena?" 

Relena recomposed herself and nodded to her driver. "Yes, thank you." She glanced out the window at the reporters that were just now starting to disperse. _I dislike them. I really 'dislike' them. _Memories of reporters chasing her around after her father had been assassinated came back to her again. Quickly, she averted her gaze to the receding sweep of the colony wall and allowed her thoughts to wander. Even a year after its initial debut, the movement to have equal rights on the colonies--mostly for the sake of the ex-White Fang members--still needed some major work. The majority of the colonies in the L1, L3, and L5 clusters were refusing to accept the new policies, and it was starting to give her a headache. Why did all colony leaders seem to be so keen on prejudice?! Relena drew her brows together in a frown, then brightened a bit. No matter how stubborn the three, odd-numbered colony clusters were being, L2 and L4 were doing great with the new policies--thanks to Duo's and Quatre's help.

Her eyes softened, smiling. _They're such dear friends. _It was always a pleasure to see Quatre at the normally dull and two-faced political meetings. Relena knew she had a powerful ally there. Duo was just always fun to be around, when he wasn't mad. Much like a brother, and Hilde like a sister. The Minister sighed again. She hadn't seen her real brother or sister-in-law since their wedding. However, the reports she received regularly from Zechs confirmed the fact that he and Lucrezia were making good progress with the Mars Terraforming project. Another fifty years and life could survive without artificial help on the red planet, with a bit of luck That was one thing that rested easy on her mind. However, for everything that rested easy, there was another thing that weighed heavily on her psyche.

_Heero. . . _With that name spoken in her mind, she looked out the limousine's window with a mild expression of sadness. She hadn't seen him since Duo and Hilde's wedding, a few months ago. All of a sudden, she smiled brightly mentally. That had been the wedding that Duo had tricked his friend into going to as the "best man", and had also been when Heero had found out about the extravagant matchmaking plans Hilde had for him and the young Vice Foreign Minister Darlian. The revenge that the reclusive pilot had enacted upon Hilde and Duo had consisted of writing a flaw into the program that monitored the remaining fuel in the shuttle they had rented for their honeymoon. Needless to say, the newlyweds hadn't been pleased when they ran out of fuel in the middle of nowhere and had to be towed to the nearest colony. Relena smiled sadly again and then focused on her surroundings, immediately straightening before her driver even informed her that they had arrived at the hotel. Quickly slipping her mask for the public back on, Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian stepped outside and hurried to her room to pack for A04782, before any of her 'adoring public' found her.  
  


A dark shadow perched up on top of an adjoining roof smiled sinisterly down at the figure dressed in the light pink business suit. Pink eyes danced with dark mirth and the Phoenix allowed himself a small, chilling smile. _Go on. Hurry to your shuttle, Vice Foreign Minister. Life's full dangers that can come to you at any moment, should you hesitate. You never know what breath might be your last._  
  
  


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  


"_Mr. Chang,_" her voice dripped with contempt, "you've called Trowa away three times now in just as many months. Does the fact that he's a member of the Preventer _Reserves_, not a full-time Preventer, keep escaping from your thick skull?!" Catherine was getting herself into a good full-blown mad now. This was the first time she had had any contact with an officer directly responsible for taking her psuedo-brother away to the Earth for the seemingly frequent meetings they had there, and she was going to make quite sure that this officer knew just how much she disapproved of the matter. And if Trowa himself hadn't previously known about Catherine's distaste of his being a part of the Preventer Reserves, he was going to find out as soon as he set foot back on the circus grounds.

Wufei narrowed his eyes at the stubborn, defiant woman on the vidscreen before him. Why, oh _why_ did Barton have to be away visiting now of all times? Furthermore, why had _he_ been chosen to inform the part-time Preventer that there was yet another meeting he had to attend on Earth? Repressing a growl, he addressed the irate Catherine for what he hoped would be the last time, but he had been hoping that for the last fifteen minutes. "Woman, I am not in charge of who has to attend what. I am to make sure that Preventer Barton makes it to Earth on time for the organization's meeting coming up in precisely two days from now. All you are required to do is inform--" Wufei's temper came dangerously close to exploding as Catherine terminated the connection while he was still lecturing. He slammed a fist down on the desk he was sitting at. "BLAST IT! Foolish woman. . ." He snarled in annoyance, and pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger in an effort to ease the headache that had come up out of nowhere. Muttering to himself once again, Wufei comforted himself with the fact that at least Barton would be getting a similar temper tantrum from the red-headed hooligan.

From her spot at the doorway, Sally grinned at her partner. She had to find a way to give him these sorts of assignments more often. He seemed to enjoy them so much.  


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Still in a huff, Catherine jerked a hat over her unruly red curls and glared at herself in the mirror while she tied the ribbon under her chin._ How **dare** he go and tell me what to do like that! And after I merely told him I disapproved of these frequent meetings that Trowa has to go to. Well! He hasn't heard the last from me. Not by a long shot! I'm going to make sure, once and for all, that Trowa doesn't have to keep going to these meetings. From what he tells me, they certainly don't need him at all of them. There are more than enough Preventers out there to take care of security at political conventions, and they don't need all their officers for organization meetings._ She checked a schedule that was lying on the top of the dresser, critically examining the times listed there. _There won't be any more performances by the circus until late tomorrow, and Trowa will be away visiting Quatre on L4 for the rest of the day, so I should be able to be on Earth and talking that **Mr. Chang** before he ever gets back._ She tried to reassure herself with a nervous smile. _I'm sure he'll understand. I better leave a note for him, just in case. . . _She reached for pen and paper, but stopped herself as another thought came. _But what if he tries to contact the Preventers then and stop me? Or try to continue on to the meeting? No, he can't know where I am or that the Preventers need him again. I'll just give him a call after I'm done and let him know. For now,_ she checked herself in the mirror one last time, and snatched an L3-J18315 shuttle schedule and purse up, _I have a shuttle flight to catch!_  


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  


For one of those rare moments, Relena looked surprised. "The meetings have been delayed? What caused this?"

Regarding her with a bland expression, the receptionist recited the mini-speech she had practiced so much. "I'm sorry, but I have not been informed on why the L1-A04782 meetings have been delayed. However, they should start again on 24th. If you wish to inquire why they have been delayed with the lead colony delegate, I can transfer you over to that channel."

Minister Darlian closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly. "No, that will be quite alright. Thanks for taking the time to inform me."

"Very well. If the need arises, we'll contact you again at a later time." With that, the receptionist terminated the line.

Relena leaned back in her chair, smiling wryly. "Don't call us, we'll call you." She looked around her room; everything--she only had about half a suitcase of items she required on this trips--was already packed and she was ready to leave. But where to? Relena sighed, "Well, back to Earth, I guess. Hm. . ." Thoughtfully, she tapped a forefinger against the desktop. _A few days to burn, and half an hour before my shuttle is scheduled leave. I suppose I'll just have the pilot continue straight to Earth. . ._ She blinked as she remembered something. 

  
  


___***Flashback***_

  
  


_"Now you be sure to drop in on the two of us sometime!" Hilde smiled and embraced her friend._

_Duo was just as cheerful as he winked at Relena."Just give us a call and we'll fix up a place for you to hide from the paper-pushers."_

_Relena smiled lightly at him, "Don't forget that I'm a 'paper-pusher', too, Duo."_

_Grinning, he avoided the swat from Hilde. "Yeah, but you're a decent one. After all, you and Heero helped us get the Paradise Plaza jobs rollin'!" Duo scowled as Hilde nudged him. "Well. . . okay, so it's really Frank's business, but still. . ."_

_Frank smirked lightly and pretended to not hear Duo, instead ruffling hair of a young Paradise Plaza inhabiter. The young boy--self-named Zeero--smiled, staying in close proximity to his idol. The aforementioned idol--Heero Yuy--tried his best to ignore his fan club and just kept darting glances at the rented shuttle, looking faintly, yet eerily smug--or at least it seemed that way to Relena._

_Hilde interrupted Duo's mutterings with a bright smile, and began pushing him up the rampway to the rented shuttle. "Anyway, Relena, just give us a call here anytime and we'll get a spot ready for you to hide." She and Duo waved and said their goodbyes to the remnants of the wedding guests before stepping into the shuttle._

  
  


_***End Flashback***_

  
  


Relena smiled. _Of course! Now that I have some time, I'll try calling Hilde and see if I can visit with them on L2 for a while. The shuttle will be stopping there anyway to refuel. _Still smiling, she reached over and started tapping out the number on the vid-phone.  
  


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Phoenix scowled and muttered darkly to himself--why was the Minister taking so long? According to his research, she didn't carry much with her on a business-related journey, and therefore the time she required to pack was minimal._ Does she suspect? No, that couldn't be. I've been too careful with this for her to detect that something's wrong. She's so gullible, anyway._ Frustrated, he repressed the urge to pace and checked the watch on his wristcom. She had fifteen minutes left to get to her shuttle. _The time required to drive to the spaceport is exactly 8.46 minutes, if the chauffeur drives at a steady 35 m.p.h._ For the third time in as many minutes, Phoenix looked around at his surroundings with a now perpetual glare. _So why--Ha. There she is. _He smirked lightly as he watched the small figure--dressed casually now, he noted warily--get into the waiting car. _Enjoy your last fifteen minutes on L3, Vice Foreign Minister. Because in exactly forty five minutes, you're going to be dead. _

  
  
  
  


**Keeping the colonies straight:** L1-A04782 is where Relena was SUPPOSED to go for her conference with the L1 delegates, but the meeting was delayed. L3-J18315 is where Relena, Catherine, and Phoenix are right not.


	3. Chapter 2

Phoenix Fire

Chapter 2

  
  


She had always been good at deception, ever since she was a small child. Forced into doing so, it was required that she become good at it. Papa had always told her that she was strong, that no one could break her, and that she was their family's one ray of hope during a blackened, strife-filled time. She remembered how the pride and the fear had flooded her young mind whenever she thought about that, that she was the backbone of their family. She hadn't felt strong when she'd dropped the deceptive mask and screamed out her true self to him, the little nameless boy that kept to himself. She'd begged to be forgiven, or at least that he should understand, offer her some comfort in the fact he believed that she'd done the only thing she could do. But he didn't forgive her, or offer her comfort; he'd shot the two transmitters, one being the cross she gave him--their symbol of friendship--and just walked away. He might as well had shot her in the heart then and there.

Truthfully, she had never felt strong after that point. She had also resolved to never let anyone, anyone that wasn't family, get close to her again. People that got close to you only ended up hurting you, or you ended up hurting them. It was a vicious cycle. See how long you could be friends before you became enemies. So far, with only a few painful exceptions, she'd kept that promise to herself. Now look where it had got her. Ignoring the droning of the agents around her, the silver-haired young woman absently fingered the Preventer, Diamond class badge that rested over her heart. Being an "Ice Queen" had its perks. High on that list of perks was the fact that one usually moved up quickly on the corporate ladder in militaristic and intelligence agencies. She pushed her reminiscing mood away and donned an indifferent mask as Lady Une entered the room and seated herself at the head of the table. Talk between the other Preventers in the room immediately ceased, and an expectant air settled down heavily. To their surprise, Lady Une glanced up expectantly and harshly at Preventer Fire, then nodded curtly to her.

Without even bothering to lift the grim line her mouth formed, Fire straightened the papers in front of her and pressed a key on the desktop. Images of mutilated corpses ran in slow sequenced on a wall-screen behind Une, while detailed reports came on-screen on the small, built-in video display devices set in front of each Preventer counsel member. Fire spoke up as one image faded to the next on the wall-screen. "As I'm sure all of you are aware of, there have been random murders and acts of terrorism committed throughout the L3 colony cluster for the past two weeks. Despite around the clock work from our top field specialists, we have not yet been able to uncover a suspect. Evidence left behind seems to indicate that there's only one person involved in this; most likely a man in his early to mid twenties." Lucrezia nodded to the Gold class Preventer next to her. "Preventer Water has done a detailed analysis on the pattern all of these crimes seem to have."

Sally Po paused only a moment to collect her thoughts. "Whoever we're dealing with here, he or she certainly doesn't get easily sick at the sight of blood and exposed bone," she joked weakly, pausing again to sober up completely when only Fire showed signs of a small smile. "To get right to the heart of the matter, the murders all seem to have two things in common: One, the victim is always a low-class citizen of the colony slums, generally a member of some persecuted society. The families of ex-White Fang soldiers, for the most part. Victims are generally boys in their teens. Secondly, the method of killing is," here she paused to silently gulp. Despite training, things like this still got to her, deep down, "the method is to rend the victims apart. . . by hand. No knife or gunshot wounds whatsoever. Whoever this person is, they're incredibly strong. And vicious." Relieved to be able to do so, Water quickly pressed a key to end the sequence of gory photos that were still cycling.

Fire bowed her head while many of the agents seated at the table muttered and shook their heads. The silver-haired Preventer in the back merely cocked her head at an angle, intrigued, and proceeded to review the reports in front of her on the vidscreen.

Lady Une cleared her throat briefly to quiet the agents before speaking up. "Fortunately, our agents have managed to deter the news media from the murders. The general public has no idea that there's a killer loose among them. However," Une leaned forward and rested her enlaced hands on the desktop, staring pointedly at each of the Preventers seated, though she skipped over Fire and Water. "This means we have to complete this case all the quicker, before anyone does find out. Even with all the agents currently working on the case, we're still lacking in progress. Preventer Fire is already leading the investigation, but I'd like at least one other Diamond class Preventer working with Fire on this."

Flicking a silvery lock of hair back, the agent in the back spoke up. "Miss Une, might I first ask a question of either you or Preventer Fire?"

Lady Une traded glances with Lucrezia briefly before nodding to the woman. "Very well."

Tracing a finger down the list on the display screen in front of her, the silver-blonde arched an eyebrow at Une. "This is a case demanding that the very best of Preventers be assigned to it, correct? I believe that's what you've already stated." She paused and waited for Une's impatient nod before continuing. "Well then. . . why don't I see Preventer Wind's name on this list of high-ranking agents currently working on the case? This is, I believe, a case that would be right up his line of work. He's the perfect Preventer for the job. Surely overseeing the Mars Terraforming isn't so demanding that he couldn't make it back to Earth for a case of this magnitude. The fact that Preventer Fire is here and leading the case seems to prove that it's not." The Diamond class mentally smiled as she watched Fire's lips straighten to a thin, hard line and hands tighten so that her knuckles were white.

Une also noticed, and answered the question quickly for Fire. "Preventer Wind is away on private business. He cannot contacted at the present time, so we'll just have to make do without him until he returns. Though we should hopefully be done with this case by then. Are there any further questions, Preventer Ice?" Ice shook her head briefly, and Une continued, "Very well then. I ask you all once again; are there any volunteers from this counsel?" As soon as she'd finished speaking, Preventer Ice smiled, albeit dryly, at her. Une took a deep breath and nodded, "Yes, Ice? You would like to volunteer to work with Fire on this case?"

Smiling surreptitiously at Fire's discomfort, Ice nodded to her superior. "I think it would be for the best if I did. As you've already stated, the case does need two Diamond class working on it." Ice glanced over at Fire. "If Preventer Fire will allow it."

Nodding abruptly, Lucrezia consented. "Yes. It is best for the case. With your permission, Miss Une, I would like to draw this meeting to a close and get back to the case as well as show Preventer Ice some more details. We need to keep moving on this."

"Permission granted, Fire." Une nodded and stood, clasping her hand down in front of her. "You're all dismissed then. Godspeed on completing you case, Preventers Fire, Water, and Ice."

As the various Preventer agents drifted back to their tasks, Ice made her way over to Fire and Water. Upon reaching the duo, she politely acknowledged them both, then smiled predatorily to Fire, her jaded green eyes clashing with Fire's flashing indigo depths. "Now then, what else is there that you have to tell me, Lucrezia Merquise?"  
  


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Well that's just fine! Catherine frowned in annoyance and restrained the urge to stamp her foot as she watched her shuttle leave without her. A curse on that Mr. Chang for making me have to go to Earth and making me miss my flight there! If it hadn't been for his extra few minutes of dictating, I could have made that shuttle! She sighed in annoyance as the errant shuttle vanished from view, and she turned to trudge back to the ticket counter to see if she could transfer the ticket she had bought to the next flight to Earth.

"Excuse me, but was that your shuttle that just left?"

Catherine blinked a bit in surprise, and glanced up towards the voice. "Wha'? Yes, actually. I'm trying to get to Earth, but I guess. . ." Trailing off mid-sentence, Catherine stared at the figure standing in front of her. "Vice Foreign Minister Darlian! I'm sorry--"

The blonde smiled and shook her head lightly. "No, it's quite alright, Miss. . . Bloom, isn't it? I don't believe we've met since the Maxwell wedding. It's good to see you again, and please call me Relena."

Blinking, Catherine nodded dumbly, then abruptly switched back to normal upon Relena's last sentence, smiling broadly at the Minister. "Yes, it has been a while, but it is wonderful to see you again, Relena. You've been well I hope?" Catherine paused to laugh shakily, "I'm afraid that you've caught me in a rather bad state of affairs, however. I seem to be stranded here after my shuttle got over-timely with their schedule."

A strained but outwardly pleasant smile came to Relena. "Well enough, thank you." She paused a moment, looking thoughtful, "You say you were headed for Earth? Well, if you'd like, I can have my pilot take you to Earth."

Catherine's eyes widened slightly at the young Vice Foreign Minister's generosity, and she naturally began to politely decline, then she remembered the earlier talk with Mr. Chang and the fact that her time slot was constantly dwindling, and the pendulum that was her mindset swung again. "Well, if it's really not a bother for you, I could really use a quick flight to Earth. . ." Catherine smiled hopefully.

"It would be no bother at all. Actually, I tend to get terribly bored and lonely on shuttle trips, so it'd be wonderful to have your company," said Relena as she led the still slightly overwhelmed Catherine to the shuttle.

"Excuse me, but I'm afraid you can't leave yet," came a rough voice.

With a characteristic confused sound, Relena turned to see an unkempt cut of black hair with sharp gray eyes peering through the bangs; all set in an overly thin and pale face. She regarded the odd, young man curiously. "Who are you? Why can't we board?"

"Your friend may board, but you have to first hear me out." The figure glanced around for a moment, then crept out further from under the boarding ramp, causing Relena's face to sadden a bit upon seeing the obvious signs of poverty and malnutrition. He glared at her momentarily for her too-late pity, then opened his mouth to speak, but he was abruptly silenced by a loud outburst.

Catherine had had enough of obnoxious, black-haired men for one day. First that Preventer tried to take her brother away again, and now this scrawny wretch was keeping her and Relena from leaving--and he wasn't even being polite about it! "Now see here, I don't know who you are, but I do know you must have a lot of gall to just come sneaking up and pushing around the Vice Foreign Minister, of all people, from leaving for her important meetings. What in the world could be so important that you'd have to resort to this?! You have no right to order us around like this--!"

Desperate to defuse the situation before Catherine flew at the still unknown man that was now glaring dangerously at her and clenching his hands into fists, Relena quickly shushed and calmed Catherine. Then descending quickly down the stairs, she turned to face the youth. "I apologize for the hostility, but my friend has been through quite a bit today." She smiled disarmingly, "What is it you needed to speak to me about?"

He looked between the two suspiciously for a moment, then nodded to Relena. "I'm unimportant, but my cause is of the utmost urgency. Your talk of equality has fallen upon deaf ears here, Vice Foreign Minister." Noting her brief look of surprise, he continued smoothly, "The colony delegates have merely deterred you with their promises of considering restoring citizen equality so they wouldn't have to listen to you anymore. I'm an ex-White Fang soldier," he paused to square his shoulders and glare freshly once again, "and even as we speak, more of my comrades in persecution are being arrested. They're silencing our peaceful protests and picketing. . .they've already jailed the rest my family, including my mother and sister. Actually, this has been going on for quite some time now. The government has just been hiding it from the media and you." The man squelched a smirk as he noted the stricken look on Relena's face. Got her. Hook, line, and sinker. He forced himself to look down, a pathetic spectacle. "What I'm asking of you, Vice Foreign Minister, is that you stay a little while longer at this colony. We need you here. As it is, I can take you to see this whenever you want."

Relena didn't even hesitate. Her people needed her here--how could she even think to leave them to take a vacation with Duo and Hilde? No, she had to stay here and work this out. But there was one thing she needed to take care of first. . . "Catherine," she turned to the redhead, "I'm sorry, but since this has come up, I'm going to have to stay here for a while yet. Please continue on to Earth without me--just inform my pilot that I had some unresolved business to take care of here, and that he's to return here after dropping you off." She looked torn for a moment, then pressed her lips together. "I'm sorry. . . but you do understand. . .?"

I guess she has to watch over the people like I have to watch over Trowa. . . Can't really blame her, but. . . Catherine glared momentarily at the stranger before them, then looked back to Relena. "Okay Relena, but. . . are you sure you don't want me to accompany you?" She glared at the ex-soldier again, pointedly. "For safety's sake."

After blinking once in mild mortification and indignation at Catherine's blatantly rude and demeaning statement, Relena nodded curtly. "Yes, I'm sure, Catherine. I'll be fine, thank you." She managed a smile, "Have a pleasant trip. I wish you luck with whatever business you have on Earth."

Catherine paused once more, nodded, and waved a bright, smiling goodbye and thank you to Relena before boarding the shuttle. After Catherine had safely boarded, Relena turned again to the mystery man. "Well then, lead me to what you wanted to show me then. . . I'm sorry, what was your name?"

He glared at her again. "I told you," he spat the words out bitterly, "who I am is unimportant. Just drop it, okay? Call me whatever you want. I don't care. Let's just go." He didn't even wait to hear her reply, but just strode on towards the front of the shuttle terminal, intent on getting a taxi.

Trailing along behind, Relena could think of only one name that would fit this bitter war veteran. All he needed was brown hair and blue eyes.

He's certainly cold and embittered enough to be like what Heero used to be. . .  
  


*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*   
  


Phoenix glared at the child in front of him. After most likely losing its parents in the pack of humans coming and going, it had collapsed on the floor--right in front of him, at that--and started to wail. He kept glaring at it. Perhaps if he stared hard enough. . . There. The small wretch had sensed his anger and had turned to stare at him. Upon seeing the gray-clad, dark sunglasses-wearing man with bright white hair, the child choked on a sob and stared up in morbid fascination. After staring at each other for a few minutes, Phoenix pulled his sunglasses down just an inch, showing the toddler his intensely pink, almost glowing eyes for no more then a second.

Although the child didn't actually see Phoenix's startlingly bright, albino's eyes for more then an instant, the encounter was still enough to provoke an ear-splitting shriek from the terrified youngster. Phoenix scowled and drew back, folding his arms in front of his chest again even as the child went streaking for its parents, still crying. Disgusting little thing it was. A rather melancholy, almost sad expression took hold of his face for an instant, but it was immediately washed over with white-fury. What had really scared the child was not the foreboding atmosphere Phoenix maintained around himself, it was his eyes. His albino appearance. White hair, lashes, and bright pink eyes. . . it was why he wore dark sunglasses all the time. He didn't have to worry about people recognizing him for being a murderer--there were never any witnesses to see him. No, he wore sunglasses to keep people from seeing his eyes. So they wouldn't point and stare. . . He hated it when they pointed and stared. Anything that attracted attention to himself was intolerable.

Speaking of attracting attention. . . Phoenix's eyes narrowed to small slits as he noticed what had recently become a very familiar, blonde-headed woman bend down to comfort the child he'd frightened away not a minute before. What in the world could have stopped her from boarding her shuttle?! He forced back a frustrated growl as he noticed the dangerous-looking man stay a few feet behind the Vice Foreign Minister, looking impatient as the aforementioned blonde finished soothing the child and lead it to the front desk. Mind racing, Phoenix presumed she was going to have the clerk send a message through the overhead comm system to the child's parents. This would, no doubt, take a few minutes. The unknown man that had, undoubtedly, influenced Darlian's decision to stay, was a shabby-looking vagabond, but he had a tough look about him like he had seen some of the less savory aspects of war or some such disaster; most likely an ex-soldier. If he were indeed a shabby ex-soldier that could not even afford clean clothes, it was likely he was ex-White Fang. If he was ex-White Fang, he was probably going to try to show Darlian something on this colony having something to do with her campaign to restore ex-White Fang soldiers and their families to equality. If he had to show her something, he was going to need transportation, and he most likely had no method of transportation on his own. With that and the fact that Darlian's temporary chauffeur and limo had left already, it was a good guess that wherever the two were going, they were going to need a driver. A taxi. With a confident smirk, Phoenix turned and made his way towards the street. He had to borrow a taxi for a while.


	4. Notes from the Author

**Phoenix Fire**

**Notes from the Author**

Wow! People are still reading this! ::looks stunned:: I HEARTILY apologize for the massive delays since the last update. Heck, this isn't even an update. Currently, I'm working on THREE other GW fictions I'm working on: Eclipse (go read!!), Draconigena (AU D&D style), and Wild Child (Heero insight). Considering these, and the fact that I've hit a block with Phoenix Fire when it comes to making everything IC and interesting (I don't think even my previous chapters come close to what quality I want them to be), Phoenix Fire will be worked on only in the background.. I WILL try to focus my efforts back on this story as soon as Eclipse is done, though. ^_^ I am _eternally_ grateful to you people who have just recently reviewed: I thought this story was destined to be deleted from my hard drive until I saw people were actually enjoying it. ^_^ Thank you. I _will_ do my best to revise and continue this!  
Ah, and I have taken the advice given that I should reformat the HTML so that there's more spacing. Hopefully it'll be easier to read now. ^_^ Thank you once again!

—Jenny Bird


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